Claudie DeMonte’s interest in icons, saints, and devotional objects is deeply influenced by her Italian-Catholic upbringing in Astoria, New York. She traces her interest in a naïve, craft-based style to the ethnically diverse location of her upbringing.

As a young woman without a saint’s name, Claudia was often singled out in school, leading her to devise her own Saint Claudia, complete with shrines, portraits, and ritualistic objects. The work here is an example of such a self/saint portrait. This piece calls up both the biblical story of Eve and the Appalachian tradition of snake handling as part of Pentacostal church ritual.